You’re spoiled for choice nowadays when it comes to smart rings, with many options in the category like the Ultrahuman Ring Air. A smart ring provides health and wellness tracking without the distraction of on-device notifications. Some people love that it’s a discreet, unobtrusive way to track heart rate, breathing, sleep, steps, activities, workouts, and more from sensors on the underside that come in contact with your skin. Others love to supplement a smartwatch with a smart ring for secondary tracking. Whichever you prefer, smart rings are the latest and greatest in wearables.
Why consider a smart ring like the Ultrahuman Ring Air?
Ultrahuman has piqued interest with its Ring Air. What’s most appealing about this smart ring is that it doesn’t require a subscription. It’s also unique in that it uses PowerPlugs, downloadable app plug-ins for personalizing the experience to suit your specific needs beyond the basics, whether that’s to get more sun, stay in tune with your body’s rhythm, or monitor caffeine intake.
Build, fit, and everyday comfort
As with any smart ring, you should start by ordering the Sizing Kit online for free. Try the size that fits best on your index, middle, or ring finger for at least 24 hours (to account for common fluctuations in the circumference of your finger), then order the proper size. The ring comes in sizes from five up to 14. Smart rings are designed differently than traditional rings: they can be thicker with sensors on the inside, so sizing is important.
The Ultrahuman Ring Air comes in five elegant finishes: Raw Titanium, Aster Black, Matte Grey, Bionic Gold, and Space Silver. It’s lightweight at just 2.4 grams with an outer shell made from fighter jet grade titanium reinforced with a tungsten carbide carbon coating. The inside, meanwhile, is coated with medical-grade hypoallergenic epoxy resin.
Overall, it fits comfortably. You might even forget you’re wearing it! It’s rugged, water-resistant down to 100 metres for up to 12 hours, though it doesn’t have an official IP rating. I have showered with it, washed dishes, and been out in the rain and there has never been an issue.
The underside is where you’ll find the infrared Photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor along with a non-contact medical-grade skin temperature sensor, six-axis motion sensors, and red, green, and infrared LEDs. These visible sensors should be positioned on the underside of your finger when putting the ring on.
For charging, it comes with a square-shaped charging dock with a distinct strip of light to confirm charging status. I wish it had a charging case you could close like the Samsung Galaxy Ring, which makes it easier to recharge on the go. Nonetheless, the charger does its job when plugged into a power source via USB-C. The battery lasts for 4-6 days per charge, but this can vary.
Setup and app integration
The ring is super simple to set-up with the companion iOS or Android app. Track heart rate, sleep, activities and calorie burn, temperature, and more. As with any smart ring, wear it for about two weeks to develop your baseline metrics. For the first few weeks, the ring is essentially getting to know you, your habits, and your usual wellness stats.
Of course, the app is where the meat is since the ring works passively on your finger. The app shows a lot of data, especially if you add PowerPlugs (more on those below). I wish it was organized in a better way versus a long string of information flowing down the page you need to scroll endlessly to see. I would have preferred separate tabs for things like fitness, sleep, health, and so on.
Nonetheless, the information provided is useful even if it’s all dumped into one view. Along with basic numbers, you also get insight and advice. It might be that my heart rate took a long time to drop while sleeping, which could have been caused by a heavy meal before bed, late exercise, or the consumption of stimulants like alcohol or coffee. Or that stress level was high, with the suggestion to find a moment to relax and a link to breathwork exercises. You also get welcome praise, like that I earned extra caffeine flexibility because my recovery was strong the night before, or that I got more sleep one night versus the previous one, and to keep up the good work.
Ultrahuman-only features
What sets this smart ring apart from others are PowerPlugs. This platform within the main app includes plug-in apps you can download to track other figures that are most important to you.
There’s Afib detection, for example, which can detect signs of Atrial Fibrillation, though this one requires a small subscription fee. Free PowerPlugs include circadian rhythm, pregnancy mode, cycle and ovulation tracking, caffeine window, screentime, vitamin D, and jet lag. New ones are always being added, so you can enjoy a continuously fresh experience with the ring.
For a woman who is in menopause, for example, cycle tracking isn’t useful, so why have it? Meanwhile, someone who doesn’t drink coffee or tea won’t need the caffeine window, but someone who works shift work will appreciate the Shift Work PowerPlug that adjusts tracking based on your schedule. If you have a baby, get the New Parent PowerPlug, which takes this into account when assessing sleep, recovery, and movement.
Activity tracking and wellness
Since there’s no screen, you need to trigger activities from the companion app. The ring can auto-detect some workouts, like walking and running. I can confirm that it indeed picks up on exercises like walks, though it sometimes doesn’t recognize it until about five minutes in.
Otherwise, select from a list of workouts in the app just before you start, including common ones like strength training, indoor cycling, elliptical, and HIIT as well as less common ones like archery, fencing, field hockey, even baby wearing. The ring tracks metrics like duration, heart rate zones and maximum heart rate, calories burned, and heart rate recovery. There’s no built-in GPS, however, so you won’t get a map of your walking or running route.
One thing I don’t like is that you get a warning notification every time you attempt to start a workout advising that it consumes significant battery life. There’s no way to request not to see this notification again.
Overall, data capture is fairly accurate. To test this, I wore the ring and my Apple Watch Series 10 on opposite arms for the duration of my review period of a few months. I only detected slight variations. For example, for a Sunday afternoon walk, the Ultrahuman Ring Air logged an average heart rate of 117 bpm (max 137 bpm) and 103 total calories burned. For the same walk, the Apple Watch Series 10 logged the identical average heart rate, a max heart rate of 139 bpm, and 101 total active calories.
It’s worth noting that you can connect the ring app to the Apple Watch app to see the ring’s data in the Apple Health and Apple Fitness apps.
Sleep tracking
People love smart rings for sleep tracking since they are generally more comfortable to wear while sleeping then a smartwatch. They also allow for continued tracking if you recharge your smartwatch overnight.
The sleep report is comprehensive, including sleep duration, cycles, and stages. You also get score and helpful insight and motivation, like to avoid big meals before bed to improve your sleep quality. The report breaks down heart rate drop and restorative sleep as well as sleep temperature, restfulness, restoration time, morning alertness, tossing and turning, oxygen saturation, and more. It’s impressive that you get all this data without the need for a subscription.
Once again, I compared the data to my Apple Watch and the numbers were relatively in sync with only slight variations with sleep stages and awake times.
There are some oddities, however. I love that the Ultrahuman Ring Air can detect naps, something the Apple Watch can’t do. It worked for the few times I did take ones (usually when not feeling well). But one time, the app notified me that a 35-minute nap was detected at a time that I know for certain I had placed the ring on its charger. What’s more, I was in the car driving at the time so even if I was wearing it, I most certainly wasn’t napping.
Battery life
The Ultrahuman Ring Air is rated to last four-to-six days per charge. But this is in Chill Mode, which limits continuous data collection to just key insights. For someone like me who works out and walks daily and wants to get the most out of the ring, you’ll have to sacrifice battery life for full Turbo mode. With this, I get about three days per charge of a size eight ring, and it recharges quickly.
Price and value for money
The Ultrahuman Ring Air offer tremendous value for money. It’s the same price as models like the Oura Ring 4, but it doesn’t require a subscription so there’s no recurring fees. Yet you still get detailed tracking of plenty of health and wellness metrics as well as vitals.
Pros and cons
Let’s break down the pros and cons.
| Pros | Cons |
| Customizable PowerPlug apps for personalization | Expensive |
| Decent battery life | Battery life is significantly reduced in Turbo Mode |
| No subscription required | Details in app are not well organized |
Final thoughts and who should buy the Ultrahuman Ring Air?
I have reviewed numerous smart rings and the Ultrahuman Ring Air is one of my favourites. From the style to the detailed tracking and the unique PowerPlugs, it checks every box. Along with tracking data without a subscription, it also provides actionable insights to help you improve. That might be advising not to drink coffee before bed, why you need to get more sleep, and encouraging you to get some sun.
How could it improve? I’d love to see better organization of data in the app with use of a tabbed view. I’d also love to see improved battery life in Turbo Mode and a redesigned charging case.
Beyond that, the Ultrahuman Ring Air is one of the only smart rings I’d consider wearing without a smartwatch. With that said, it’s also a wonderful companion to a smartwatch, providing additional data your smartwatch doesn’t track, backing up crucial detections like Afib (if you subscribe to that add-on), and an ideal complement if your watch dies in the middle of a run or while you’re sleeping.
The Ultrahuman Ring Air is an ideal smart ring for those who are active and want to track workouts, as well as those who are looking for a smart companion to assist along a health and wellness journey.
The Ultrahuman Ring Air is available in all sizes and finishes at Best Buy Canada. Order a sizing kit, find the right fit, and enjoy!
FAQs
Is the Ultrahuman Ring Air accurate?
Based on my comparisons with data from the Apple Watch Series 10, the Ultrahuman Ring Air accurately captures data. While there’s variance in data like sleep stages or heart rate during a workout, they generally fall in line with one another.
Does it replace an Apple Watch?
For those who don’t want the distraction of notifications or app access on your wrist, or don’t need to check stats from a watch face, you could theoretically replace an Apple Watch with an Ultrahuman Ring Air. But it also works wonderfully as a complement to one.
How durable is it?
The Ultrahuman Ring Air does not have an official IP rating against dust and water, but it is said to be dust and water resistant. I have worn one for months while washing dishes, in the rain, shower, and even pool. As with any smart ring or smart watch, however, it’s advisable to remove it before entering a body of salt water.
